WARREN, R.I. — Ron Wallace's pumpkin needed a forklift. At the Southern New England Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off at Frerichs Farm on Oct. 10, officials put his entry on the scale and watched it settle at 3,156 pounds — becoming, if confirmed, the heaviest pumpkin ever weighed and the first to clear 3,000 pounds.
The gourd topped the previous world mark by nearly 300 pounds. That record, 2,857 pounds, belonged to British grower Ian Paton of Lymington, England, and had stood for barely a week after being set on Oct. 3. Guinness World Records has not yet formally certified Wallace's pumpkin; he says officials told him the record is "on track to be verified," though the process was still pending as of mid-October.
It is the third world record of Wallace's roughly 35-year growing career. He was the first grower to top 1,500 pounds, in 2006, and the first to top 2,000 pounds, in 2012, with a 2,009-pound entry. This season, growing in a greenhouse for the first time, he credited favorable weather and a more deliberate, data-driven approach to the harvest.
The only way you create a 3,000-pound pumpkin is a community working together.
— Ron Wallace, grower
Giant-pumpkin growing is a small but intensely competitive hobby, built around a handful of weigh-offs each fall sanctioned by the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth, which inspects entries for cracks, rot and other disqualifying flaws before they reach the scale. Wallace's pumpkin passed inspection before being hoisted onto the platform in front of a crowd at the farm.
"It's truly massive, it was a pleasure to grow," Wallace said, adding that he was "ecstatic" when the number came up. He has not decided whether he will compete again next season, saying he may take a year off to catch up on other projects around the farm.